No Body

OH, ROBODEBT. REMEMBER ALAN TUDGE? The image below is from a September 2018 article by none other than whoopee cushion Rachel Baxendale in The Australian, reporting the glowing assessment of Scott Morrison offered by that enthusiastic Liberal sycophant, Alan Tudge. According to dear Alan, Morrison was: “Decisive”, “consultative” and “authentic”. CONSULTATIVE? AUTHENTIC? This is the very same Scott Morrison who secretly appointed himself to multiple ministerial portfolios without even informing some of the ministers whose responsibilities he was sharing. Alan, darling, that's not consultation. That's practically the fucking opposite. But let's remind ourselves of ALAN TUDGE, the former Human Services Minister who famously declared on national television (and yes, we have the clip): “We'll find you, we'll track you down and you will have to repay those debts and you may end up in prison.” Tudge later insisted those remarks referred to deliberate welfare fraud, rather than ordinary Robodebt recipients. Nevertheless, what subsequently emerged from the ROBODEBT ROYAL COMMISSION was considerably more disturbing than a television soundbite. And Alan, rather like his Liberal–National colleague Barnaby Joyce, also had a documented enthusiasm for dipping his pen in the company ink. Tudge admitted to an affair with his married media adviser, Rachelle Miller, while he too was married. But back to Robodebt. THE ROYAL COMMISSION FOUND THAT BY JULY 2017, TUDGE KNEW AT LEAST TWO PEOPLE HAD DIED BY SUICIDE, AND THAT THEIR FAMILIES HAD IDENTIFIED ROBODEBT AS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR. Yet he failed to undertake a comprehensive review of the scheme or consider whether its effects on vulnerable welfare recipients were so harmful that it should be stopped. Let that sink in. A minister publicly warning people they could end up in prison, while failing to adequately investigate a scheme that was causing profound distress. And where is dear Alan now? Having resigned from Parliament in February 2023, citing family and personal circumstances, HE HAS RESURFACED AT THE MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE, a Liberal-aligned policy think tank. Yes. A research fellow. (Code for 'warm a seat' thanks for doing our bidding) How wonderfully comfortable. The Royal Commission also found that Tudge's use of welfare recipients' information in the media to discourage criticism of Robodebt represented an abuse of ministerial power. He rejected that finding. But the Commission's findings remain on the public record. LEST WE FORGET ROBODEBT. And lest we forget the extraordinary contrast between the Morrison government's carefully cultivated public image and the conduct subsequently exposed by a Royal Commission. VICTORIA — DO NOT FORGET THIS CHAPTER OF AUSTRALIA'S POLITICAL HISTORY. Because the archives have a rather inconvenient habit of remembering what politicians would prefer everyone else to forget.

I have just been dropped from the NEXT Channel 4 documentary on Russell Brand for pointing this out: